Mother: The Eight Melodies
by The Cam
Summary: An adaptation of the Japan-only game, Mother. Rated T for mild language, religious references, suggestive themes, and all-around craziness. Baseball bats, aliens, and crazy rednecks. This is Mother.
1. The Poltergeist

_In the early 1900s, a dark shadow fell over a town in rural America. Shortly after, a happily married couple mysteriously vanished._

_The man's name was George._

_The woman's name was Maria._

_Two years later, George returned home but never told anyone where he had been or what he had been doing. Instead, he deeply immersed himself in strange research._

_As for his wife, Maria..._

_She never returned._

**198X, outside the town of Mother's Day…**

On the outside, the kid on the bed playing his NES was just your average 12 year old. He enjoyed sports, was mostly good in school, and played his video games just a little too much. He had black hair, wore a red bandana on his neck, and had a blue and yellow shirt, along with regular denim shorts. Judging but his outward appearance, you wouldn't be able to realize he had a dark secret. Ninten had psychic powers. The bent spoon in his treasure drawer proved that. He could read others' minds. He could move things when he concentrated. He preferred to act like an ordinary kid however, and only used his powers when he thought he needed.

Images moved across the TV screen as Ninten approached the final stretch of Super Mario Bros. "Alright Bowser, time to meet your doom!" Ninten thought. But just then, a streak of light flashed onto the screen, and then went to black. "WHAT?! I was just about to beat the game!" Ninten yelled. As soon as he said that, he felt the ground shake beneath him and he nearly fell. He regained his composure and noticed things falling off of his shelves and dressers. He went to his treasure drawer, filled with things like his old penguin toy and his favorite ball, signed by former baseball star Shigeo Nagashima. On top of it all lay the baseball cap he wore everywhere, given to him by his dad. He put it on and started walking toward the door. He was interrupted when an object began flying his way.

"What the heck?" Ninten yelled as his table lamp flew directly his way. "How the…?" he thought, before being struck by the lamp. He rubbed his bruised cheek and used the only thing he could: his fists. A few shards of glass flew off the base of the lamp after the boy threw a punch at it. It fell down to the ground and Ninten's fist flew one last time into the household object. Ninten looked at the glass shards with a puzzled look on his face. First the house shaking, now this! He walked through the door and made his way downstairs to find his mom frantically looking around the room.

His mom must have noticed the stricken look on Ninten's face because she was quick to respond to his worry. "Are you okay, Ninten?" she asked. He assured her he was fine. "What on Earth is happening to our house? I'm so scared… If only your father were here…" she said, obviously freaked out. He began to respond, when he was interrupted by the phone. "Oh! The phone! Could you get it, Ninten?" Ninten walked over and answered, "Hello? This is Ninten, who is this?" "Ninten? It's your dad," the other line answered. He was surprised to hear his dad's voice, as Ninten's dad very rarely came home. He hadn't lived at home for 7 years, so Ninten barely knew him.

"Dad? What is it?"

"I just wanted to say hi."

"Alright, I'll tell Mom and the twins. Thanks."

"How are you?"

"Sorry, I can't talk now; we got a bit of a problem. But I've gotta ask ya something. The house is shaking and my lamp started moving on its own. Not to mention it tried to kill me. Any idea what could be happening?"

His dad thought for a moment, "Hmm, I see. Sounds like it must be a poltergeist of some sort. I'm not sure what to do about it either."

A look of disappointment covered Ninten's face. "So do we do nothing?"

"Of course not!" He thought another moment. "But your great-grandfather did study PSI at one point."

"What's that?"

"I think you know."

Ninten just smiled. He did know. His powers. They must be PSI.

His dad continued, "Perhaps there's something in the basement that could help make sense of things." He was silent for a moment, then mumbled, "I know I put that basement key somewhere…" Ninten heard the sounds of his dad shifting through his jacket pockets.

"Dad, you're in New York. If you have it, I can't get it."

"It's probably somewhere at the house. But I can't remember where. Anyway, you're our only hope. Now is the time for an adventure! Go forth, Ninten! Protect us all!"

"Little corny, Dad," Ninten said. But his dad was gone.

Click! Beep-beep-beep…

* * *

"Okay then. I guess I'll go upstairs and see if this is some stupid prank by the twins." Ninten walked upstairs and into his sister Minnie's room to find her in his face. "Brother! I'm so scared! My lamp suddenly started going crazy!" she exclaimed. Minnie usually confided in him for comfort and advice. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. The same thing happened to me." Sure enough, her lamp was flying around as well. Minnie hid behind her brother's back and Ninten ran over to the lamp. He tried to get the jump on it, but it slammed into his stomach. Ninten got off his back and punched it in response. Since it was down, he punched it again… and it struck him yet again. He grunted in pain and clenched the bloodied injury on his arm. His leg lifted and he performed a roundhouse kick which shattered the lamp. "Brother! It's like our house is about to fall apart!" Minnie exclaimed. Ninten replied, "I know. I gotta figure this out." He thought to himself, "Nothing here, time to go to Mimmie's room." He went to the room next door and found Mimmie trying to fight against her porcelain doll. She looked over at Ninten. "Don't just stand there! Help!" she said in her usual bossy, rude tone. Minnie was the cowardly, nice one, Mimmie was the rude, "brave" one. Ninten quickly jumped in between them and began to attack the moving thing. He threw his fist at it, dealing some small damage, and it retaliated. Hmm. This doll packed a punch. He jumped at it and kicked. The doll flew around him and unexpectedly slammed into his back. "OW!" He yelled, clutching his back. He threw another punch. It went back and forth. Punch. Slam. Punch. Slam. Within moments, the doll was demolished. "Wait a minute," he said. That unusual vibrating sensation was gone. "That was scary," Mimmie pointed out. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Ninten retorted and walked back out the door, when Mimmie said something. "Oh? I think I see something inside the doll!" she said.

Ninten walked toward the doll, and sure enough, there was something in it. "Huh," he said, pulling out a small white cube with a crank on the sides. "Looks like a music box." He began to turn the crank and a broken melody began to play. He thought he could make some words out of the tune.

_Take a melody…_

"Huh. Strange," Ninten thought. He pushed the thought of the melody into the back of his mind.

Ninten knew the phenomenon had stopped, but he decided to look for the basement key anyway. He was heading back upstairs to think about its location when his mother called out, "Ninten! Could you go feed Mick, please?" "Sure, mom," he replied. "I'm much closer to the door anyway," he thought sarcastically.

He walked outdoors and found his dog Mick sitting outside his doghouse, looking famished. "Alright boy, here's your kibble," Ninten said. His dog replied, "Oh thanks! I'm starvin'." It didn't startle Ninten. His psionic abilities apparently allowed him to communicate with animals. That, or he was adept at reading the dialogue boxes. "You understand animal talk, right?" Mick asked. Ninten replied sarcastically, "No… Whadda you think?!" "Then I'll give you a hint: Try checking me. Woof!" he said. Obliging, Ninten searched his dog, and found something hanging off Mick's collar. It was the basement key! He took it and ran back in, "Thanks, Mick. I gotta go!"

* * *

The basement was a dark place. It seemed…cold and unforgiving. Rats crawling around, and junk everywhere. But… there were what looked to be boxes with wrapping paper on them all around the room. Presents? Ninten started walking around, looking for clues to the cause of the strange phenomenon. He searched, bumping into things in the darkness, and found a present. Ninten opened the box and found some sort of book. It was old, and dusty. The top right corner was torn off, and the pages were torn. He put it away so he could read it in the light. Walking a little farther, Ninten came across another present. Opening it, he found a round, almost cylinder shaped, long club. There was a knob at the end, but the other end had come off. It was a cracked baseball bat! He decided to use it as a weapon. His knuckles were bleeding already. He found the last present and opened it up. Nothing special, just an old stale bread roll. Watching his step, Ninten made his way back to the door and pulled the old book out to read it.

The book was his great-grandfather's diary! Ninten skimmed through the pages, but most of the old book was unreadable. One part did stand out, though. Ninten read to himself, "The password…Where is the god's tail, that which was left behind by the ship that soars the heavens?" The readable ended there. "What the heck does that mean?" Ninten thought aloud. Maybe his great-grandfather was just a nut log. He knew what he had to do. "Mom? I'm going into town to search for clues. I…uh…" He stumbled on his words for a moment, "…might be gone for a few days." His mom gave no reply. "Mom? You okay?" "I knew this day would come. You would leave, no matter what my answer was. It's about your powers, isn't it?" she said sadly. Ninten stuttered, "No, it's just… Well… I gotta…" He finally admitted it, "Yes." She went over and embraced Ninten. "Just promise you'll come home sometimes. I'll make your favorite prime rib." "Don't worry about me, mom. I'll be fine," Ninten said, as he walked out the door.


	2. The Cemetery

"Okay then. Seems I won't be home for a while," Ninten thought to himself, "Sooo… What exactly am I going to do now? I probably should…" His thoughts were interrupted by a man jumping out of the bushes. He had a pitchfork, overalls, and strange glasses. He seemed to be some redneck. He didn't look happy. "What exactly are you durrin' here?" the redneck said. Ninten was startled, "J-just heading into town!" "Rilly? You ain't gunna do no such thang!" the redneck said, and aimed his pitchfork at Ninten. "Dude, what's your problem?" he said, and whacked the guy in the ribs with his bat. The redneck responded with a stab to Ninten's stomach. "AAUGGHH!" Ninten screeched in pain. He whacked him again in the head, and the redneck flew into a rage, and swung his pitchfork every which way, not hitting Ninten once. In the confusion, Ninten landed one last hit on the redneck, which knocked him out. "Why the heck was wrong with that guy?" Ninten wondered.

After the battle, Ninten felt an energy flowing through him. It was new, yet… familiar. Weird. It must have something to do with his psychic abilities. His injuries suddenly healed. Most of them. "Nice! I can probably do that at will, anytime," Ninten thought, "Lifeup. That's what I'll call it."

"So in town I'll…" Ninten's thoughts were again interrupted, this time by the sobs of a nearby woman.

"Oh me, oh my!

"Oh me, oh my!

"Oh me, oh my!"

"What's wrong, ma'am?" Ninten asked. She replied, still sobbing, "My dear Pippi's gotten lost! If you're going into town, please tell the mayor for me, okay?" "Don't worry, I will. Just stop crying," Ninten said. The waterworks just kept going. Ninten ignored her and continued to town.

**WELCOME TO MOTHER'S DAY**

Finally. Ninten had made it into town. So, where was that town hall? He searched for a few minutes and finally found it.

**MOTHER'S DAY TOWN HALL**

The only clue that it was the town hall was the sign outside the building. It looked like any other building. Ninten walked in. "Hello," he said to the secretary, "could I speak to the mayor, please?" "He's right upstairs. Also, could you come back soon? I have a secret to share with you later," the secretary replied. "Oookaay," Ninten said, very weirded out. He walked upstairs. A man at a desk spoke to him, "Hello. I'm Abbot, the mayor." "A woman to me to tell you…" Ninten began. Abbot continued, "…'s assistant." "Oh," Ninten said, "sorry to bother you." "The mayor is right over there," Abbot said, pointing to a man sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. "Okay, thanks," Ninten said. The man looked to be in his late 50s, and had the appearance of a typical cowboy. He was donned in a leather cowboy hat, a plaid button-up shirt, and big brown boots. He was smoking on an old pipe. "Hello, Mr. Mayor, a woman told me to…" Ninten was again interrupted. "I don't know, this task may be too much for you to handle," the mayor spoke through the smoke in this face, "but I still have high hopes for you anyway." "Excuse me, sir, but what the heck are you talking about?" Ninten said. "Well, you see..." the mayor began, "A child has strayed into the cemetery. And, as luck would have it, I'm up fer re-election soon. So… Please help me!" "No. At least not for you, 'cause you're selfish," Ninten remarked. And he was right. The mayor clearly only cared about himself and his job. "Oh! You'll do it?! You'll go and rescue her?!" the mayor exclaimed, ignorant of what Ninten said. "I just said I…" Ninten began again, with the mayor still not caring that the boy was talking. The mayor continued, "Come back alive and you'll be a hero! I'd go with you, but I'm, umm…" He stumbled on his words, "not feeling so well…" Obviously he was just a coward. Ninten thought about what the mayor said. A hero. He liked the sound of that. Ninten- Hero of Mother's Day! He decided to go save the girl, since the mayor wasn't going to. Ninten walked out of the mayor's office and went to go buy from the nearby department store.

There wasn't anything of interest at the store but a $500 Teeball Bat. But Ninten only had $140, so he just spent $65 ("Way too expensive!") on a sports drink and began heading south.

Aaaannd, halfway there, he was stopped in his tracks by a giant centipede. "You wanna fight too? Didn't end too well for that redneck back there," Ninten retorted, but was then bitten by the bug. He rubbed his arm a bit, and knocked it to the ground with his cracked bat. It got back up and bit him one last time, but Ninten reduced it to a pile of guts. Well, he tried at least. The centipede dodged his attack quickly and punched Ninten in the chest. Ninten finally smacked it into the air and it was killed. "Wow," Ninten thought, "they need to make better bad guys for this adventure."

Ninten fought some more foes and learned a new PSI ability that heals poison, and ended up at a house near the cemetery. He stood there, seemingly with his guard down, and a hippie tried to jump him. Pulling out his broken bat, Ninten bonked him on the head as he tried to get him, knocking him to the ground. The hippie got up, and turned around and began to pray for his safety, and that Ninten would take the right path. "Me take the right path? You're the one that jumped me!" "Well it only seemed right, man, to enforce peace and love, know what I mean?" the hippie replied. "No. I don't know what you mean," Ninten said, before he whacked him again. The hippie pulled a megaphone out of his bag and yelled into Ninten's face, "You're a disgrace to your mom!" "What?!" Ninten exclaimed, and thought about it for a moment. "Yeah," he said confidently, "maybe I am. BUT, you're also being a jerk, so I'm gonna KO you now," he said before knocking him one last time on the head. The hippie was now lying unconscious on the ground; with bruises at each place Ninten hit him. Ninten felt that same energy he felt when he learned earlier PSI moves. He must learn more moves by winning fights. He now had the ability to hypnotize enemies. He moved right along to the cemetery after checking out the house, which belonged to some "healer". He crossed the bridge, fought some more boring battles, and finally found the cemetery. On the way there, he saw, and ignored, this sign:

**Bridge Path: Cemetery**

**Walking alone is dangerous!**

"Well, apparently no one cares about this sign, since here I am having to walk ALONE, because some girl got lost because she was walking ALONE," Ninten thought. Just at that time, he smelled… fire. Smoke. He turned around to find a crow smoking on a cigarette. "SQUAAAAWWK!" it said, and proceeded to fly up and try to peck at Ninten's eyes. Before it could land a hit, Ninten smacked him, knocking him out of the air. It flew forward, and would have hit Ninten, but he was too quick for the bird. The crow crashed into a tree and got its beak stuck in the bark. Ninten almost landed an attack, but the crow got unstuck as it got stuck, and pecked Ninten right in the stomach. Ninten hit the crow down to the ground, and finally bashed his skull. "Phew! Man…A crow smoking? That's not something you see everyday," Ninten pondered, and then went on his way.

Ninten had entered the cemetery and found another thing you don't usually see. There was a teenage boy just walking toward him. A teenage boy with red eyes, sharp teeth, and blood dripping from his mouth. It looked like it could be…A zombie! "Th-those are only in movies, right?" Ninten thought to himself. Yet, at the same time, it didn't seem like a full zombie. It was missing the grey skin, so at first glance, it would look like a regular person. No matter. Ninten knew it was coming for him. Grabbing his bat, Ninten ran up to the "Pseudo-Zombie" and hit it in the head. The Pseudo-Zombie bore down on Ninten, and gave him a bruise as big as Ninten's hand. They both repeated their attacks on each other, and the zombie fell to the ground. Ninten smacked it one more time, and it returned to the dust of the earth.

The cemetery was like a maze. It was lined with gravestones shaped like crosses, angels, and all sorts of things. It was a very gloomy place, especially with these zombies running around. A prominent feature was the church right next to the entrance to the graveyard. Ninten decided to go in to see if the child hid in there.

There was surely no kid in the church. The only people were Ninten himself, and the preacher. Ninten asked why there were zombies everywhere, and the preacher had no answer. "I'd like to help the zombies become friendly by teaching them about God. But… Zombies freak me out!" he said. Ninten said nothing, but thought to himself, "Some preacher you are," and exited.

Ninten headed southeast from the church to find a purple bat flying in front of his face. It had an angry look on its face, so, since it seemed to be a threat, Ninten hit it with his bat. The bat looked like he was trying to judge the situation, but seemed to lose all sense of it. Ninten took advantage of this idiocy, and hit it with the bat once more, knocking it unconscious.

Finally! Ninten continued searching.

Ninten walked through miles of gravestones and finally found a hole in the ground. It was man-made, since it was square, and had a same-shaped border around it. The kid couldn't have fallen in, could she? There was only one way to find out.

It was dark, but the hole let some light in. There was a long row of stairs leading down, and a door at the end. Ninten walked down and opened the door cautiously. The next room was empty, besides some coffins sitting in the middle of the room. They seemed to be…moving. Weird. Maybe the girl was in one of the coffins. He walked up and started shifting through them. In the casket closest to the door was a Pseudo-Zombie. The zombie tried to bite Ninten, but Ninten avoided the attack and hit it under the arm. The zombie scratched Ninten, who hit it again and ended the battle. He felt the energy flow through him again, and he had learned a new PSI!

He looked in the casket next to the one he just looked in.

Same thing happened. Bonk, scratch, bonk. The battle was over. These zombies were getting on Ninten's nerves. There were 2 coffins left. Ninten took his chances with the one on the left and…

Inside the coffin was the girl! Finally!

"I'm Pippi. I'm lost."

"Obviously."

"You're pretty brave, huh?"

He wanted to say yes, but that would be bragging, so he said, "I wouldn't say I am."

"Yeah. You're pretty brave to come save me! I hope we meet again sometime, don't you?"

What was she talking about? He had just met this kid! He didn't want to be rude, though, so he said yes.

"Oh, I'm so happy! Here, take this badge. It can be a symbol of our bond."

Pippi handed Ninten an old badge with the word MOTHER on it in front of a completely white picture of the Earth with a border reading FRANKLIN BADGE.

"Err…Thanks?" Ninten said, unsure of the gift's purpose.

"Take it with you. Okay, let's go back to town now!"

That was very weird. Ninten and Pippi began their journey back to Mother's Day. Pippi actually proved to be a valuable asset for the way back. She could really hold her own in battle. Ninten also found out his power to hypnotize enemies and up his own defense.

Pippi was seriously freaked out by Ninten's powers. They made their way back to Pippi's house. "Hi mom," Pippi said, which seriously startled her mother. "Pippi! Oh, thank goodness! She's all right! Y'know, I think the mayor is looking for her too. Something about his re-election. You should probably go see him," her mom said, ecstatic that her daughter had returned. Ninten and Pippi went back to the town hall to talk to Mayor Goodman.

"Oh, is this Pippi, the girl who got lost?" the mayor said, glad Ninten made it back with her. "Yessir, it is," Ninten replied. "Stunning work, lad! I knew from the start that you showed promise!" "Really? 'Cause you said it might be…" Ninten was again interrupted by the mayor, this time with him clapping and holding an applause sign to Abbot. "You're so lucky, Pippi," the mayor added, "Adorable too. Now remember to tell your mother that the mayor rescued you," he said selfishly, as per the norm. Pippi leaned over to Ninten's ear and whispered, "I won't do it. Don't worry." "And for you, Ninten…" The mayor continued, "A $100 reward. Here." "Well, thanks sir! I appreciate it," Ninten said. The mayor asked, "Say, since you're here, won't you help with the zoo problem too?" "Well, y'know I should probably get going…" The mayor again paid no attention to Ninten's words, "So you'll go check it out? Oh, that's wonderful! Ninten, you certainly do love to play games!" "I wouldn't call this a game." Ninten mumbled to himself. The mayor added, "Have my assistant Abbot give you a key to the zoo. Now end this chapter!"


	3. The Canary Chick

**Yeah... this is a short chapter. The next one is reserved for the zoo, and I didn't want two melodies in one chapter. Sorry!**

* * *

On the top floor of the Mother's Day Department Store, the clerk sold pets. Ninten wasn't really looking for a pet, since he had gotten the Teeball Bat he wanted, but he was wondering why they had no animals but a Canary Chick, which should have been at the reserve just west of town. The rest of their animals had escaped apparently. "All we have is this Canary Chick. Interested in buying it?" the clerk asked. "No, not really, though it really should be in the reserve," Ninten pointed out. "You can take it there yourself if you buy it for $85!" the clerk said, clearly wanting to sell the chick. "No! I ain't payin' 85 bucks for that thing!" Ninten yelled. "How about for free then? C'mon take it, it's driving me crazy," the clerk said. Ninten took it, "Fine, I'll take to the reserve. C'mon little chicky."

Ninten headed west from Mother's Day into the forest to find a sign.

**Canary Village ahead**

**Let's nurture nature together!**

"Pretty corny, but OK," Ninten thought. He was almost there. On the way, he fought some more foes and learned the PSI ability to lower enemies' defenses. He crossed the bridge outside the forest and finally found the fenced in preserve. He walked through many trees, passed many birds, and found the ranger, who was busy watching the canaries. He had blue tufts of hair on the left and right of his hair as well as a moustache. That was the only hair he had. He was obviously old. "Hello, sir. I err…" Ninten stumbled on his words, "found this baby chick and thought I'd come and return it." The ranger seemed to recognize the chick, "Oh, that canary is Laura the songbird's baby! Go take it to her!" "I would, if I knew where and who she was," Ninten said. "Hmm… Now where did I last see Laura…?" the ranger said. Ninten looked around and showed the chick to every bird he found. Nothing. None of them recognized it.

He continued searching and noticed some pillars near the ranger. They all had a ruined brown look but one. It was grayish. Ninten walked over ran his eyes over the pillar. There was nothing of importance, really. But he saw a canary on the other side, outside the fence. Weird. Ninten looked behind the pillars, and he realized there was a gap in the fence behind the grey pillar. He walked through the gap and the canary spoke, "I'm Laura." She actually spoke, it wasn't the PSI that let him understand her, she actually talked. Ninten pulled the chick out and showed it to Laura. She gasped, "OH! You found my child!" Laura was so happy, she began to sing. Ninten had the weird urge to remember the melody.

_Simple as can be…_

Ninten thought for a moment, "What's with the melody? First the doll, now the bird…" He pondered on this, as he made his way to the Cream Puff Zoo.


	4. The Ruined Zoo

The path to the zoo was a quiet one. Sure, there was the occasional snake, stray dog, or redneck attack, but mostly, it felt like a leisurely walk. Like when Ninten walked Mick through the valleys. Apparantly, the zoo's problem was that all the animals got out. And they're counting on a 12 year old to fix it? He had been walking for a while when he found a sign that read:

**Cream Puff Zoo: 700 meters west**

"Alright, it's close. Now I gotta deal with the animals," Ninten thought. He walked along the zoo's fence and found a monkey outside the zoo gate. "Kyakyakya! (You're a big doo-doo head!)" the monkey chattered, and took the Zoo Key from Ninten. "Hey! That is not nice language! And gimme that key!" Ninten yelled at it. The monkey climbed over the fence and ran into the zoo. Ninten just sighed. "Maybe I can climb over," he thought. He walked up to the gate, and upon closer look, Ninten saw that the lock was broken. "Well that's convenient," Ninten thought, and just opened the rusty gate and went through.

As soon as he walked through, Ninten found a crocodile at his feet. It seemed to want a bite to eat. Before it could sink its teeth into Ninten's leg, he brought his Teeball bat down on the croc's head. It wouldn't give up. It turned around and slapped it's tail up into Ninten's stomach. "Now, I see the problem!" Ninten thought between swings, smirking, "The animals are jerks! Are they sure this just started?" He swung the bat at the reptile's head again and knocked it out.

Ninten kept walking, trying to keep his distance from the free animals. He walked by the bunny pen, the panda pen, and the monkey pen, the only ones that weren't opened. He fought hyenas, tigers, and even flies. He had no idea where to go to fix the zoo's problem. While looking around, he found an empty pen marked with a sign.

**The world's only singing monkey!**

**Right here at Cream Puff Zoo!**

"Psh," Ninten scoffed, "What kind of monkey could be taught to sing? A bird, maybe, but monkeys? They're jerks."

**CREAM PUFF ZOO MANAGEMENT**

Ninten was finally greeted by the tall, strangely moss covered figure that was the management office. "There must be something in there…" he thought.

The stairs were exhausting! Ninten climbed up many flights, collecting items along the way, and fighting rats and centipedes. He finally reached the top room. It was completely empty besides a desk and a mysterious round object. One side was white, the other was flashing red and blue.

It was some sort of… capsule. Ninten walked straight up to it, wondering what the heck it was for. He got a bit closer, and was knocked to the ground when something leapt out of the capsule!

"What the heck?!" he thought out loud. The thing that came out of the capsule was some… machine-type humanoid. It was twice the size of Ninten, and silver. It also had two fingerless arms, almost like tentacles. There were some weird markings on the left of its chest, along with a visor over its eyes. "Who the...! What the…! WHAT ARE YOU?!" Ninten screamed at the machine, clearly scared. "I am Starman Junior," the attacker said in its robotic tone, "You are an inferior human. However, you are ruining our plot. I'll smash you to bits!" Ninten got back up quickly swung his bat around to the Starman's head. It threw its arm at the boy's cheek, bruising it. "PSI Lifeup Alpha!" Ninten thought, and his injuries were all healed. But the Starman showed some psychic power of his own. "PK Beam Alpha!" It yelled, and a beam of light flew toward Ninten, knocking him to the ground. "OW!" he grunted in pain, and got back up and smacked the Starman Jr. It punched Ninten again. Swing again. Punch again. Ninten used Lifeup again, while the Starman got in a defensive stance. Ninten hit him again, and the Starman used one more PSI ability. "PK Beam Gamma!" it yelled, and another beam of light, this time larger, went flying toward Ninten. The boy prepared for his death, but it never came. The badge Pippi gave him was immersed in the light, and it seemed to reflect the beam. "You'll smash me to bits, eh? Reverse that real quick," Ninten snickered, and the light hit the Starman Jr. Down it went, and disappeared with these words: "You may have stopped me here, but the master will prevail. Your puny human world will pay!" There was a flash of light, and the machine was gone along with the weird sound that was driving the animals nuts. "That was weird," Ninten thought, "Definitely not from Earth." The thought didn't strike him as strange at all. Psychic abilities, talking animals, an evil influence engulfing the wildlife. After all this, the thought of aliens didn't seem too far-fetched. It had PSI of its own, though… PSI obviously wasn't exclusive to Earth. In the aftermath of the battle, Ninten had learned PSI Shield, Healing , Quick Up, and how to dimensionally warp. Ninten pondered on the alien's presence and exited the office.

On the way out of the zoo, Ninten saw that the animals had all found their way back to their pens, notably the singing monkey. He stopped at the pen and said out loud, "Alright monkey, let's hear your song!" It obliged with passion.

_Give it some words and…_

"And what?" Ninten thought. The monkey never finished the song. Ninten made his way back to town to report to the mayor. Maybe being the mayor's worker wasn't so bad after all. It would probably lead him to the answers he wanted, plus it paid.

…Or not. After being greeted by Abbot with a nice "How ya doing?", Ninten was met with some angering news from the mayor. "Oh it's Ninten, the hero!" Goodman began pleasantly. "You have tiger droppings all over your clothes, you know," he said. "Really? It doesn't look like it," Ninten said, looking over himself. "Oh, I'm just kidding!" he exclaimed. Then came the bad news. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to give you this time…" he said with fake sadness. "Are you serious? I risked my butt to save the girl and stop the animals, and you give me nothing?! This was all for the good of your stupid re-election…" Ninten yelled, about to throw something with his mind. The mayor said nothing. Ninten just walked away, very mad. Abbot looked like he was trying to offer sympathy, but could not find the words. As Ninten walked down the stairs, he heard the loud laughter of Mayor A. Goodman.

On his way out, Ninten stopped by the secretary to hear the "secret" she wanted to tell him. "Everyone's talking this girl with special powers. Have you heard of her? I bet she'd be a great help to you on your journey," she said to him. "No," he thought to himself,

"I have to do this myself."


	5. Secret of the XX Stone

So. So, there was absolutely nothing more to do in the quaint little town of Mother's Day. Ninten couldn't go home, there were so many more answers he needed to find! He exited the town and began to head eastward.

…And was stopped by the cops. "By mayor's orders, no one is to cross this bridge until martial law is lifted," one of the officers said in his gruff voice. Ninten was disappointed, but the officer added one thing, "I suggest you use the bridge to the east of the zoo instead." Ninten kindly thanked him and began head north to the zoo.

Ninten made his way to the bridge and was greeted by two bored officers. "Ugh! They finally lifted the orders for martial law! They overreacted a little bit, if you ask me." "Yeah, I know. Stupid zoo problems…" Ninten remarked. One of the officers scanned Ninten over, and said, "Say… You're that kid who knows how to use telepathy or whatever, right? Everybody's talking about you, you know! You're a real celebrity!" Ninten just looked at him, wondering how the heck he knew that. The boy had kept it a secret ever since he knew about it. Then, it hit him. Pippi. That girl was a complete blabbermouth. The police moved out of Ninten's way, and he walked past. As he walked by, the other officer added, "There's a strange rock in a mountain cave past here. In fact, it's so strange that you should check it out!" "Okay then, I will!" The boy had nothing better to do.

The main path ended there. Ninten walked around aimlessly in the forest when he came across a dark cavern. "This must be what the officer was talkin' about," Ninten thought, and cautiously stepped in.

The cave was very straightforward. There seemed to be no danger, so Ninten just followed the pathway. At the end, Ninten found what must've been the strange rock mentioned by the cop. It was pink. It could've been a rock, but that wasn't likely. It looked like two seaweeds wrapped together, like you would see at the bottom of the ocean. It also had some weird marking near the top.

**XX**

Weird. Some strange feeling filled Ninten. As if the thing was… talking to him. Ninten decided just to try his telepathy on the rock, just to see if it did anything. To his surprise, it did!

Ninten heard a voice… "Where is the god's tail?" "What? My great-grandpa!" Ninten pulled his great-grandfather's diary out and read aloud: "…That which was left behind by the ship that soars the heavens." A pinkish light engulfed Ninten's body, and he didn't even have a chance to yell "What the heck?!" before he had disappeared.

Ninten had lost consciousness for a moment. He woke up laying down with his head against a weird white spiral pillar with a point on top. He looked around him. He wasn't in the cave anymore… The area he was in was pink, like the rock. He was standing on some… clouds. He was seriously standing on clouds. Weird. The place seemed like it was out of a dream or something. There was a nearby bridge, so Ninten went over to find some answers to where he was. There was a girl waiting on the bridge, dressed in a red pointed cap and robes. She looked a lot like one of those stereotypical witches in stories. She just looked at him and spoke, "You're very strange, you know that? But I also think I might like you…" Ninten said, "Ooookaay… Good to know. Where is this place?" She said nothing. She just stood there. "What the heck is this place?" he thought, and walked past. There were buildings everywhere with the same shape as the rock. Some had markings above the doors, like a red cross or a 7, which marked the hospital and stores.

Ninten walked into one of the stores. The clerk looked exactly like someone on Earth. "Shh! I'm just like you! I'm from the other world!" the clerk said. Huh. "Is this another planet or something?" Ninten asked him. "I honestly don't know what it is. I _do_ know that it's very different from Earth," he replied, "For some money, I'll share some souvenirs of Magicant with you. Just look at the menu." But, the boy didn't have enough money for anything.

Ninten entered a house owned by a man wearing the same clothes that everyone in town wore: The stereotypical witches'/warlocks' outfit. "Oh hello," the man began, "I finished the Ocarina of Hope." "Err… What's that?" Ninten asked. "It can play the melodies you know. I've been working tirelessly on it. Do you want it?" "Ummm, I wouldn't have any use for it, and if you've been working so hard, I can't take it from you," Ninten replied. "Ahahaha! 'I want it!' is written all over your face. Go ahead, take it with you," the man said, handing Ninten the ocarina and softly shoving him out the door. "Okay then," Ninten thought, "That, was very strange."

In another house, there was a woman in blue trying to pull on a spoon for… something. "Need some help?" Ninten asked. "I bent my spoon, and now its hard to eat with!" she said, using all her might to try to bend it back. She looked back at the boy and said, "Can you bend it back for me?" "Sure," he replied. "Please hurry." This spoon was just like the bent spoon in his drawer back home. He concentrated as hard as he could, and within moments, the spoon was back to its former shape. "Thanks!" she exclaimed and went back to her meal. "Happy to help!" Ninten said, and began walking toward the door. "You must want something in return. Don't even deny it," she said, "Do you wanna stay the night here tonight?" "Sure! Thank you, ma'am," Ninten said. He was asleep in seconds.

The next morning, Ninten talked to many of the "villagers" and most of them mentioned "Queen Mary's Fountain". Whatever that was. It was apparently west of the "castle". Ninten exited the town boundary to find this fountain.

This place was getting weirder every minute. The water was pink and green, and Ninten could WALK on the pink. This was convenient, but strange. Ninten walked across the water into a forest.

A green bear-like thing jumped out of the trees trying to sink its claws into Ninten. But, the boy was smart, and in the blink of an eye, pulled out his bat and smacked it in midair. It got up, turned around and clawed Ninten. It had barely left a mark. He smacked it again, and the green teddy was down.

Ninten kept trudging along, and came across another house. He walked inside to be greeted by a man with a guitar in his hand, playing soothing music. He continued playing, but turned to address the kid, "Oh, hello! I was just in the middle of pondering philosophical questions. It's hard for me to focus with all this guitar music, though." Ninten just looked at him. Even the people are crazy in this bizarre world. "Oh! Whoops! I didn't realize I was the one playing the guitar! How careless of me!" "Wow," Ninten thought sarcastically. "…" the man thought for a moment, "This is a secret between just you and me: Come back here when you're stronger. You should probably make a note of this now so you don't forget it later." "Hmm," Ninten began, "All right, I will."

Barely 5 feet from the house, Ninten found a strange cat. It was just like any other cat. Besides the fact that it was SWIMMING IN THE GROUND! "I'm a cat that swims in the ground," it stated. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Ninten thought. "Can you guess what I'm holding in my paw?" it asked. Ninten used his telepathy and saw what it was. "Did you see it?" the cat inquired. Ninten said, "You're holding a ribbon." "That's right. A ribbon," it said, "This ribbon is overflowing with special power. But it's for girls only." Whatever that meant.

Yet another house. Would Ninten ever get out? He walked into the house to find a room full of five strange (that word applied everywhere in this place) yellow "men" in purple suspenders. Not to mention, they each had a beak! The one directly in front of Ninten spoke to him as the boy scanned his surroundings, "I AM FLYING MAN. I WILL BE YOUR STRENGTH. THAT IS WHY I WAS BORN." "What the heck?" Ninten thought, "Who does this guy think he is?" Ninten talked to all the others, and they all said the same thing: "I CAN'T WAIT TO SERVE YOU." Weird. The Flying Man followed him out of the house as he continued to search for Queen Mary's Fountain.

Ninten continued west from the castle, still no idea where to go. Ninten was startled when another enemy came floating by to destroy the passersby. This enemy was just a pair of eyeballs, suspended in the air, with eyelashes atop them. The Flying Man showed its use as it swooped in from the air, slamming the eyes, smacking them down to the ground. Ninten took advantage of this, and he propelled his bat down onto the weakened eyes. One eye flew up from the ground, quickly followed by the other, both hitting the Flying Man. Ninten brought his bat around and struck the eyeballs a second time, destroying them.

…Then came the sad part. The Flying Man threw a kick from above, putting a noticeable dent in the stomach of the Raeb Yddet. It kept slashing its claws toward the bird-like man, missing nearly every time. One final fatal hit, however, found its way into the skin beneath the feathers of the Flying Man. "I AM HONORED TO DIE SERVING YOU," it said, before falling down into the ground. Ninten said nothing. Furiously, he swung his bat into the bear, bashing its skull, and it fell to the ground on top of the Flying Man's corpse.

"WHY?!" Ninten yelled angrily, "WHY IS ALL THIS HAPPENING TO ME?! HE'S DEAD, BECAUSE HE WANTED TO PROTECT ME!" Ninten stopped and breathed for a moment. "I didn't even know him... But, he wanted to help me… Best not to dwell on it…" Ninten thought. With tears in his eyes, Ninten continued searching.

North from that bridge he'd crossed earlier, Ninten finally reached another bridge leading to a fountain. "This must be it!" Ninten thought. He had finally reached his destination. There were two men with bags on there heads, with black sketched-on eyes, which gave their heads the appearance of a skull. "I feel completely refreshed after stopping by Queen Mary's Fountain!" one said. "There's a whole bunch of holes in the ground east of town," the other began, "I'm not sure which hole it is, but you can hear otherworldly sounds coming from one." "Huh," Ninten thought, "that must be the way home!" Ninten's tears had dried up. He had a way home! Ninten walked up to the fountain and splashed his face with the water. Just the touch of it made him feel… revitalized. All of his injuries were healed. His psychic energy was restored. And he got that same feeling he had when he found the pink rock. Like the fountain was calling him. He read the fountain's "mind". A flash of light appeared in the sky. Ninten was blinded for second, and regained sight to find an old man directly in front of him. He was wearing an old ratty blue robe, he had a limp, and was completely bald. "I heard the cries from your heart. Need something?" he asked. "Su…" the kid began. "No need to answer," the old man interrupted, "Need money? I see. You seem to have $4300 in your account." The man acted like Earth's ATMs. Weird. Ninten withdrew all of his money and left.

After heading to the shop and buying some equipment, Ninten headed north of the Magicant Village to find Queen Mary's castle. He thought there must be some clues to the way out. There were three guards in Ninten's way. "There a problem, sir?" he asked. "You look suspicious," the middle guard began, "But I'll let you through if you can solve my little riddle…" The guard ended there. Ninten just looked at him. "What's the riddle?" he asked. No answer. Ninten seized the chance to read his mind. "Hmm," he said, "Two alligators." "That's right! I haven't thought up the question, though. Heheh," the guard replied. Ninten rolled his eyes and continued past the guards.

The castle that stood in front of him was absolutely huge. It was colored lavender, with a green door. It had a design shaped similarly to the pink rock decorated on the structure, and a spire topped the building off.

It was bigger on the inside than the outside, it seemed. It was empty, but it was like a maze. Big round openings served as doors to countless rooms filled with presents. Most of the presents were everyday things like antidotes and medicines. There were some Magic Herbs, but Ninten had to pass all of these up because he couldn't hold anymore stuff. Of note, however was a room that had 6 presents. Awesome! Ninten started from the left and looted the place. Or… he would have. After getting rid of some things to make room, he opened the top-right present (from his perspective) and removed a boomerang from the box. He looked up, about to open the next present. But it was opened and empty, along with the other. Weird. Well, he had gotten a boomerang, so at least he had a new weapon.

After a couple minutes of searching the humongous castle, Ninten had finally found the throne room. A long pink carpet stretched across the floor, with the queen's attendant (who looked just like the guys at the fountain) on the side of it. The attendant whispered to Ninten as he walked down the carpet, "Queen Mary isn't feeling very well. She can't remember her 'song'." She was a woman who looked young, dressed in a crown and a purple regal gown. "Welcome, Ninten," she began, "I've been expecting you." Ninten cut to the chase, "What is this place?" "Here in the land of Magicant, everyone is your friend, and you can have as much as you like of whatever you want." "Okay then," he thought, "That doesn't tell me anything." He thought of what the attendant said, and asked the queen, "So, I've been hearing about your 'special song'. Could I hear it?" "Oh? You want to hear my song…" she said. Her voice became increasingly sad. "I'm sorry. I don't know why, but I can't seem to remember it. I'm sure I'll be able to remember it someday…" she said, her face turning red. "Must be some song…" Ninten muttered. "If I can just sing it again, something will happen… I just know it." "Hmm," Ninten thought, "those melodies... the ocarina…" "I'm sorry for taking up your time," she apologized, "You may go, Ninten."


	6. Cavern of Crystals

**Yeah, sorry it took so long, what with school and all... This chapter is semi-short.**

* * *

"Take care!" the guard said as Ninten exited Queen Mary's Castle. He headed southeast from the castle to find a very large field of holes. "This must be what the guy at the fountain was talking about," he thought, looking over each of the holes. They each seemingly led into absolute nothingness. Weird. He put his ear down to each of the holes, listening for the "otherworldly sounds". After a bit of searching, he heard… the wind down one of the holes. "This must be the way back to Earth!" Ninten thought. He jumped straight down without looking…

…And immediately regretted it. He slammed into the ground leg-first. "AAUGGH!" he cried, laying on the ground clutching his leg. He turned around, and saw a tall wooden object reaching out through the hole. "Really, a ladder?!" he yelled. The cavern was…cold. A breeze brushed against his face. It was refreshing. There lay two square alcoves in front of him, one of which had to be the way out. Ninten pondered on which it was, just staring. He decided to take his chances with the west one.

It must have been the right one, because two more of the rectangular holes waited for him at the bottom. West he went again. He found himself in a room with absolutely nothing in it. He backtracked and took the east path this time. Nothing again. This was frustrating. Backtracking to the 1st room, he followed the east path and found more alcoves. What a maze!

He took the east alcove again, found two more, and took the west one. A present lay waiting for him. Just another Magic Herb. He climbed back up the ladder and took the east path. Nothing AGAIN. How confusing!

He was bombarded by more floating eyeballs and started over from square one. On and on the confusion went until he finally found the correct room. He climbed down the long ladder to the room, which was different from the other rooms in layout only. Ninten headed southeast from the ladder and walked on the linear path. Linearity was very rare on this journey.

Yet another floating pair of eyeballs flew out of nowhere into the boy's face. He put his arms up in defense waiting for it to attack. It had a little white nose along with a red colored moustache. It looked like Groucho Marx. Weird. "Hello! Did I disturb you? So sorry. I'll leave you to your business," it said, and left as quickly as it had appeared. Ninten just watched it fly away. For some reason, his experience points went up! Whatever that meant.

Ninten continued walking down the path and turned on a corner to find a _huge_ animal laying on the dark rocky ground. It was red and had really big pearly whites. It was just alone there, sleeping. Ninten thought nothing of it and just went the other way.

Hmm. Another alcove, just sitting in the middle of the path. "Well, guess I'll go down," Ninten thought, and walked up to it. Suddenly, a fish jumped from the ground seemingly out of nowhere. It spoke in a deep voice, "I AM THE CAVE MASTER. YOU! SHALL NOT! PASS!" Ninten assumed it was an enemy, so he threw his boomerang at the now flying Cave Master. "You really wanna pick a fight with _me_?" Ninten said snidely. It flipped its sharp fin into Ninten's cheek, giving him a quite large cut. "AAUGGHH!" he yelled in pain as he took another blow. "YOU CANNOT HOPE TO BEAT ME," it said. Ninten said nothing, and flung his boomerang into the fish's back. "I TAKE IT BACK," it said, admitting defeat, just before the boomerang flew through its middle, gruesomely splitting it in half. It was out of his way, so he could enter the alcove.

There lay yet another present at the bottom. Ninten ripped open the white wrapping paper to find some weird hook shaped thing. It had blades on the edges of it, a point at the tip, and it was a light bluish color. He had absolutely no idea what the heck it could be for. Not as a weapon, because the blades were not sharp and must have been for style. Eh. He tucked it into his pocket and kept trudging through the cavern.

On the way to the end, Ninten found another present, this time holding a sword. "Oh, yeah!" the boy thought enthusiastically. He kept swinging it around, not very good with the weapon. "Alrighty then. Guess I can't use it," so he just shoved it in his bag for safekeeping.

After floating eyeballs continued their attacks on poor Ninten, he made his way to a rectangular opening in the walls. "This better be the way out," Ninten thought. As he got closer, however, he could make out a shadowy figure. It seemed to be an… old man. He didn't think there was anyone else in the cavern. He stood in the opening turned away from the kid, sulking. Ninten politely asked him, "Excuse me, sir, may I get through the door?" "I'm a forgotten man. I might as well not exist," the man replied. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry you…" He was interrupted by the man. Does anyone notice Ninten's voice? "You didn't have to notice me, you know," the old man said sadly, "Just go ahead and ignore me." He stopped there. Ninten was about to speak again, when the man cut him off again, "I'm a nowhere man. It's best if you don't give me words of kindness. I can't live on like this if I start to miss people." He was so lonely… and depressed. "My conversations are always a monologue," he continued. "No kidding," Ninten thought. "I've always been alone, from the moment I was born… Good luck, bad luck… None of it matters to me." "Okay, that's exaggerate…" Ninten began, and was interrupted yet again. "Why do you insist talking to me? Are you a forgotten man, too?" "Well, no," Ninten answered. "Yeah. That's what I figured. Yep," the man said, "Now just hurry up and ignore me already." "Well, okay then!" Ninten said loudly. "Good. Thanks," the man said, and he disappeared through the door. "That was one of the weirdest conversations of my life," Ninten thought, and walked on through the opening.

He popped right out of the pink rock he'd found at the entrance. "What the heck?" he thought aloud. But the cave looked different than earlier. The layout differed from the other one. Maybe it was a different pink rock. Ninten walked out of the cavern.

It was good to have light again.


	7. The Nerd in the Trash Can

The familiar country wind Ninten recognized from Mother's Day swept under his nose. But, he was not in his hometown. Exiting Magicant apparently took him to a different area. He was up on some cliff overlooking a suburban town. He began heading north to find a way down.

He was mauled by wolves along the way, but he still made it very far before he noticed a sound. It was a strange beeping noise. Now that he was listening, it sounded like it was coming from all directions. WOOSH! 2 grey objects flew in from opposite directions to attack. "Flying saucers?!" Ninten yelled. "Now I'm sure there are aliens. But why are they coming for me?" he thought. He threw his boomerang into one of them. It flew right through it, splitting it through the middle. "1 down," Ninten thought. The other came through the air into his stomach, knocking him down. He flung his boomerang again as soon as it returned to his hand. It came up through the UFO from the bottom. The rubble of both the saucers was now on the ground in front of him.

Ninten kept walking until he came to the town he saw before his "close encounter". He passed by the elementary school and looked around. The place was lined with small and tall buildings. Memories flooded the boy's head as he searched the town.

**Welcome to the town of Thanksgiving! **

**Advertisement: Cheap, fast, and handsome!**

**Big Ben Casey can heal what ails you!**

**Visit now for a super-discount check-up!**

**Protect your life. . . to the death!**

"Whoa… Lotta exclamation points there," Ninten thought, and kept exploring the tiny town. He came across another sign, this one in front of an empty building lot.

**Coming soon: Strip Theater**

** -Duncan Construction**

Needless to say, dirty thoughts raced through Ninten's mind.

After a few more minutes of searching Thanksgiving, he ended up back at where he entered. Twinkle Elementary. "Suppose I could pass myself off as a student? I could find… something. I don't know," Ninten thought, and entered the school.

It seemed mostly empty. "I guess most of the kids are in class." He walked into two empty classrooms, and was about to enter a third, but it was locked. A voice rang out from the other side, "Someone's in here! …Wait, this isn't a bathroom. I have my hands full at the moment. Come back later," "Will it advance the plot?" Ninten asked. No answer. He continued searching the large school.

The school wasn't completely empty. Ninten passed a few other kids on his trek, but he didn't seem to blend in. One of the kids said as Ninten walked by, "Hey! I haven't seen you before, kid! Do you even go to this school?" "Uhhhhh… Yeah!" Ninten said sheepishly. "Oh, okay. Just don't run in the halls," the kid replied. Ninten began walking away, and quickly turned back and yelled, "FINE! I don't go to this school! Stop trying to get it outta me!" "Ooookay…" the other guy said, "Show me what you have. You better not be carrying anything dangerous." Ninten ran like the wind before the kid could snatch his bat.

He continued up the stairs, still searching through the classrooms. Not one teacher. Huh. "A school without the teachers… I'll be surprised if a ton of nuclear waste is in the place of the building tomorrow!" Ninten thought. He eventually came to the next flight of stairs, but on the door was a sign saying "Roof", and a big rusty, _very_ old lock, similar to the one on the gate at the Cream Puff Zoo. But, this lock wasn't broken. He walked back down the stairs to look for someone with a key.

Huh. Ninten had searched every room, but no one had a key. "Wait just a minute… that room I tried to go in… Lemme go back and check it," Ninten thought. He went back down the stairs and, sure enough, he could now walk in. There was one single man. There were brooms and mops leaning against the wall, towels hung up on hooks, and an old cart sitting in the corner of the room, as well as an unmade bed. "This guy must be the janitor," Ninten thought, walking up to him. He told the janitor about the locked door. "Oh, the door to the roof is locked?" the guy replied. "Well, if that is the door to the roof." "It's no big deal. The real problem is my wife," the man began. "Uh oh. I smell a story comin' on…" Ninten thought. "She sleeps until noon everyday and never packs me a lunch. Isn't that just terrible?" "Yeah, sure…" Ninten said, not listening. "All she does is get fatter and fatter! Isn't she a terrible woman?" Ninten thought about it for a moment, "Well, I don't wanna piss him off by insulting his wife…" Ninten said, "Well, I don't know her, so I'll go with a no." The janitor then switched gears and started talking fondly of his wife, "She was pretty when she was young. Yeah, come to think of it, she has her good points too. Say, how about some tea?" "Sure, thanks." The janitor handed him a cup of tea and took one himself, saying in between drinks, "You're a pretty smart kid. Oh, that's right, you want to go up to the roof." Ninten had gotten lost in the conversation, forgetting about the roof. "Oh, yeah, the roof!" Ninten exclaimed. "All right, then. Follow me," the janitor said, and began leading Ninten back up to the top. The man stopped for a moment to say, "My wife was the very first Miss Middle of Nowhere." "Oookay. Good to know," Ninten replied, and they kept going. The janitor walked up the flight of stairs and Ninten heard a CLANK! He walked back down, with the key in hand, "Okay, I unlocked the door. The view from the roof is really nice, by the way." He turned away from Ninten and began walking back to his room, twirling the key ring on his finger. Ninten walked up the stairs and opened the door.

The view was really nice. It overlooked mountains, and the buildings of Thanksgiving looked as small as ants. Ninten wondered if that even was Thanksgiving, or if it was an entirely different town. Something interrupted his thoughts. Some shaking sound. Ninten looked back at the door and noticed a trash can next to it. A trash can shaking? "What the heck? Hmm," he thought, trying to pull the lid off the can. It wouldn't budge. A slightly high pitched voice came from inside the trash can, "Who's there?! I'm not coming out! You're just gonna pick on me if I do!" "Wait, what? I'm not here to pick on anyone. I'm just looking for some help. Some… friends, I guess," Ninten replied. "You want to be my friend?! Then do you promise not to tell that I took explosives from the science lab?" "Wha? Oookay, I promise," Ninten replied, confused. "I'm coming out now," the voice said, and a lanky boy with neck length white hair, thick glasses, a red t-shirt and black shorts. He looked to be your typical nerd. "I'm Lloyd," the boy said, "I heard they make Bottle Rockets at the Sweet Little Factory south of here… I wanna launch one really bad!" "Well then, Lloyd, hows about I go get you one, in exchange for your help?" Ninten said. "Really, you'd do that for me? It's a deal. Hey, what's your name?" Lloyd said. "Ninten. That's-a-me! Gotta run!" Ninten replied.


	8. A Bond Made From Explosives

"What the heck are 'Bottle Rockets'?" Ninten thought, as he was exiting Thanksgiving. Now he was on the way to some factory south of town to get some of these "Bottle Rockets" for some nerd at the school. Jeez.

After fighting hoards of wolves, eagles, and silver walking sticks ("What is THAT?!"), Ninten finally ended up at the Sweet Little Factory. "Supposedly, this place makes Bottle Rockets," Ninten thought. It was a somewhat tiny building, with silver plating covering every inch, besides the grey door of course. For some reason, there was nothing or no one going in or out of the factory. Ninten quickly entered the small building, hoping no one saw him "breach security".

The interior was worse. It was mostly empty, besides the rats and Barbots (the aforementioned silver walking sticks) running around. "Obviously, no one uses this place anymore. Meaning there might be items lying around," Ninten thought mischievously, "ripe for the taking." The factory was huge on the inside, with many doors leading in all directions. Strangely, every one of them said _EXIT_.

Most doors just led to some old items, products from the discontinued business. What really puzzled Ninten, though, was that one of the items was a Magic Herb from Magicant. "How the heck would that get there?" Ninten thought, theories filling his mind. "Maybe it was a product of the factory, though that's unlikely. One of the employees may have gone into Magicant… Anyway, I better move on." He did so.

Ninten took a ladder up and, after pilfering the rooms on that floor, found another ladder. "Why the shmiggle-kinowzers am I doing this?!" Ninten thought. "What do Bottle Rockets even look like?!" On the top floor, Ninten looked in every room he found. Still no rockets. All there was was some Magic Herbs (Again, how'd they end up here?), some odd pills, and some medicine. This must've been some company in its heyday to produce all this stuff. As Ninten was walking out of one of the rooms, however, he noticed that the nearby trash can had so many things filling it, the lid couldn't go on all the way. It was filled with long white missile-shaped objects with a red tip. The other end had fins sticking out of it, each also colored red. "What are these? They…" Ninten began, looking over one of the objects, "They gotta be Bottle Rockets!" Ninten was relieved to finally be free of this mission. He only had room for one, so he pocketed it and started his walk out.

Ninten returned to the roof of the school to give the boy the rocket. "Alright kid, I got your stupid rocket." "Wow!" Lloyd replied. "So this is a Bottle Rocket! I've heard so much about them!" "From where, Nerd Fest?" Ninten mumbled. "Hmm," the nerd said, scanning carefully over the explosive, "I should be able to make more of these now. Come with me to the science lab." "Well, I have nothing better to do. You lead the way," Ninten said, partly sarcastic. He followed Lloyd down the stairs into the school. While walking down the hall, Lloyd stopped to say, "Let's go visit Duncan's Factory later. I hear there's a really incredible rocket there." "Wait, isn't that the same company that's building that strip club?" Ninten asked. But Lloyd was oblivious. On the way down the next flight of stairs, he stopped again. "I bet people have been spreading rumors on how I'm a 'weakling stinkling' or a 'stupid head." Ninten sheepishly smiled and darted his eyes back and forth, then lied, "No… They've been giving you TONS of praise on your… intelligence!" "Don't even try to hide it, dude," Lloyd said, "I know what they've been saying. It's fine." The duo made their way down to the bottom floor, and down to the science lab.

The lab was full of test tubes, desks, and old-fashioned microscopes. The boys sat down at one of the desks and Lloyd laid the Bottle Rocket out. He grabbed something from the table and said, "I can use the fuel from your rocket and…" He grabbed another supply. "Then, if I use it with this…" He added the supplies to the rocket, sort of like "accessories". "Pretty cool, huh?" Lloyd said, showing off his scientific prowess. "You added some weird stuff to a rocket. So what?" Ninten remarked. Lloyd opened his mouth to reply, when he accidently knocked over a test tube filled with potion, and spilled it onto the rocket. This triggered a chain reaction, and there was a devastating explosion. "AAAHH!" Lloyd yelled, and ran over behind Ninten, using him as a shield. The desks were thrown against the wall, the shards of the test tubes were all over the floor, and the boys were comically covered in soot. "Uh oh. We'd better get outta here, before we're reported to the police!" Lloyd said, and the duo was making a run for the exit.

Finally, Ninten had a partner. Not a friend quite yet, but someone to talk to.


	9. Brutality of Duncan's Factory

After buying a Sandlot Bat for Ninten and giving Lloyd the boomerang, the boys were on their way. Ninten was just finishing telling his story so far to Lloyd. "Wow," Lloyd said, more surprised by the tale than he showed, "You've had a very strange life!" "Yeah. I know I have. So what now, Lloyd? You said something about another factory north of here?" Ninten asked. "Oh, yeah. Duncan's Factory is an old factory that used to make REAL ROCKETS! There's s'posed to be a real marvelous rocket there that only the employees have seen," Lloyd replied. "Oh no, I'm NOT lettin' you near anymore rockets after what you did in the science lab." "To be fair, you did get it for me…" "Let's just follow the train tracks, alright? Then we might actually get somewhere," Ninten said, trying to get off the subject. "Fine then. I don't think you'll be met with happiness, though," Lloyd yielded.

While following the tracks, however, a HUGE red 18-Wheeler sped past the boys, almost running them over. "HEY! Watch where you're going, idiot!" Ninten yelled at the passing truck, which immediately did a U-turn and stopped in front of them. "I don't think that was the right choice, Ninten," Lloyd said worriedly. Now that he looked at it, though, Lloyd found that the truck itself had big rectangular eyes where its windshield would be. "Hey, it doesn't look like anyone's driving that thing," Lloyd whispered to Ninten. "The truck's alive!" "You want a fight?" Ninten said confidently. "You got one. Lloyd, throw your boomerang!" Ninten pounded his bat into the grill of the truck as Lloyd threw his boomerang into its eyes. The truck was scrapped solely by Ninten, but he gave Lloyd some of the credit. "Nice job, man!" Ninten congratulated, giving his partner a fist-bump.

Turns out Lloyd was correct about the train tracks. "Are you freakin' serious?" Ninten yelled, staring at the huge pile of boulders blocking the boys' way. "Told ya," Lloyd snidely remarked. "Shut up and help me push these things!" Ninten replied, putting all of his strength into trying to open up the path. Lloyd said, "It won't budge. Everyone in town's been talking about it." "Why didn't you tell me?" "I wanted to see the look on your face." Ninten looked angrily at him. "Damn it, you win. Duncan's Factory, here we come," Ninten said unenthusiastically. "Good thing it's only just northwest from here," Lloyd replied with a grin.

Ninten led the way, following where Lloyd told him. They were crossing a plateau when something on the ground caught Ninten's eye. Any regular person would have passed by it, not noticing, but Ninten had a keen eye. "What's that?" Ninten said as he picked it up. It was a card of some kind. It had a portrait of someone, along with his date of birth and other information. _Duncan's Factory _was written at the top. "It looks like an ID," Lloyd said, looking carefully over the card. "Must be an employee of the factory." "Let's take it with us for 'safe-keeping'," Ninten said, pocketing the card.

The boys continued as per Lloyd's directions, and finally reached the factory. It looked WAAY bigger than the Sweet Little Factory. The Sweet Little Factory could've been a scale model of this giant. Otherwise, Duncan's Factory was just like the other one. At least, on the outside. Standing in front of the door on four legs was a small brown guard dog, just like the stray ones back in Mother's Day. Ninten walked up to the dog and asked if they could go in. "This factory is Mr. Duncan's private property," the dog said. (He wasn't actually speaking, just barking.) "Do you have a pass?" "Glad we brought this thing, huh?" Ninten whispered to Lloyd, and handed over the ID card. "Sorry, but this is expired, kid," The dog said. "What?! But it…" "You swiped it, didn't you? You're a suspicious bunch…" Ninten was trying to avoid the guard dog's menacing stare. "Look me in the eye!" the guard dog barked. It proceeded to run one way, then the other. It centered itself in front of the boys and pounced. Startled for a moment, Ninten jumped out of the way, pulling Lloyd with him. "You know what you are?" Ninten said, pounding his bat onto the dog's head. "Just a little pussycat." Lloyd had a surprised look about him, which immediately changed to a fake smirk when Ninten turned to him. "Psh," Lloyd said, pretending (and failing) to think the dog was a wimp "Can't believe they put him on guard duty." Ninten raised his eyebrows and said, "Really? What exactly did you do to help? You just stood there and almost let him tackle you." "Hey," Lloyd said, stuttering as he tried to make a comeback. "Sh-shut up!" Ninten rolled his eyes and entered the huge factory.

The inside was worse than the outside. It was bigger than the outside made the already-big factory look. It was mostly abandoned ("Why, then, was there a guard dog?") except for some rusty robots and deranged doctors wandering around the large interior. "Wh-what are those?" Lloyd said in a timid voice, obviously scared of the creepy passersby. "You know," Ninten said, "I'm still wondering that myself." "You said you've met zombies… and aliens... and crazy rednecks! Wouldn't you know something about these guys?" Lloyd asked. "It's not like I take notes on everything I see like some _nerd_!" Ninten exclaimed angrily. "I'm sorry, I get kinda uptight when I'm scared," Lloyd apologized. "Let's just leave if you're too scared," Ninten mocked. "No, I wanna keep going. I can manage," Lloyd said, determined to go see that awesome missile.

They began searching the giant factory. All of the many robots and doctors were hostile. "You aren't too tough," Ninten declared confidently, swinging his bat into an rusty grey robot, "scrapper." Lloyd proceeded to fling his boomerang into the robot's decayed, yet tough, hull. It just raised its "fists" to defend itself and the boys continued their assault. Eventually, it just fell to pieces on the ground. It was impossible to tell if the duo did it, or if it just got old.

Countless doors and ladders filled the massive facility. There was absolutely no clue to where that rocket could be. A long time of searching also showed that there were many dead ends and empty rooms. "This obviously was not constructed well," Lloyd remarked. "Wonder how, you know, the 'other place' will turn out then," Ninten replied. Lloyd just sighed. A good amount of the rooms, however, contained some former products of the Duncan manufacturing company. There were capsules that supposedly made your wisdom, strength, and speed. ("Lloyd could definitely use these," thought Ninten.) There was some old medicine, and other miscellaneous items.

The boys were making progress. Well, they at least hoped they were. But they were just finding out the brutality of the evil Duncan's Factory. "There was a reason this factory was abandoned…" a voice said from a dark corner. The face was completely visible, though, and it revealed that it was a doctor. "You're killing the effect!" Ninten yelled to him. "We can see your face clearly, sadly." "I really need a tan…" the doctor said. "We drove the inferior 'regular people' out with our robots. They did not deserve this place." Ninten replied, "Okay, back up a bit. One: Inferior people? Who is the one that is about to get their skull bashed? Two: No one deserves this place! It's a huge piece of crap!"

"Ninten, I don't think…" Lloyd began, but was interrupted by the doctor. "Did you seriously say that?" the doctor said. "We are the Doctors Distorto. The master commanded us to do this, and so we shall." Dr. Distorto ran up to Ninten, surprisingly swiftly, wrapping his hand around Ninten's neck, and remarked, "My personal robot will take care of your little friend." "Lloyd! Little help here!" Ninten groaned, or at least Lloyd thought. The poor little geek looked at the robot currently stomping his way, then at Dr. Distorto choking the closest thing the nerd had to a friend. Mustering all of the courage he had, Lloyd chucked his boomerang at the doc's head, scarring the pale old man and rendering him unconscious. But, just as the doctor was knocked cold, the robot fired a beam from its visor, doing the same to Lloyd. Ninten got up from the grasp of the doctor's cold hands and knocked the robot's head off with his bat, yelling, "Are you serious?! You did NOT just do that!" He ran over to Lloyd's body and tried CPR. "Come on, buddy, wake up!" he said, panicking. "Alright, I gotta just stay calm," Ninten mumbled to himself. He picked up Lloyd's body and put it over his shoulders. He was, not surprisingly, lighter than the average person..

"Okay, lemme think of alibis. I could tell him… the rocket exploded and knocked him out! Yeah…" Ninten thought. "Ah, forget it! I'll just keep going, like he said he would. I wonder if there's some PSI ability to revive people."

Ninten wasn't happy. The floor he lost Lloyd on was a dead end in itself. On the floor below, he finally found the room he was looking for. There were three launchers on the ground, but only one was loaded. The rocket itself was much smaller than Lloyd made it seem. "O-kay… How do I work this?" Ninten said. He remembered what happened in the science lab, and decided not to do anything. "Better let Lloyd do this. We came here for him after all. There is also the matter that I don't want to end up being a pile of nuclear waste." Ninten pulled out his Onyx Hook. He had nowhere to go, so he could go back and revive Lloyd, and introduce him to the strangest land he'll ever see. "Time to return to Magicant."

He appeared in the familiar pink, cloudy area of his dreams. It didn't feel any less strange than the first time he came. Ninten went straight to the local, luckily free, hospital. "Hello! Are you feeling okay?" the clerk, who was also the doctor, and the nurse, and the… well, she was everything. "Well," Ninten replied, "my friend here was knocked unconscious and need help. You can help, right?" "Of course. Just lay him on the cot and let me get my supplies," the one staff member said. She proceeded to pull out a taser and zap Lloyd on level… whatever level was the highest. His eyes opened in a shock, and he fell off the cot face first into the floor. "Ow," he said. "You okay, buddy?" Ninten said, trying to hide his enthusiasm. "Well, let me think. I'm on the floor, in some building I don't know," Lloyd replied. "I'd say that I'm about average." "You'll be surprised when we leave the building."

And so he was. "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!" Lloyd exclaimed as soon as he laid eyes on Magicant. "I had the same reaction when I first came here," Ninten replied calmly. "I told you about this place, didn't I? This is Magicant." Lloyd said nothing. He just stared into space, not speaking a word (besides when Ninten showed him the dragon: "Dra-dra-DRAGON?!" until they got back to Thanksgiving.

Once they got back and Ninten told him the whole story, they finally returned to Duncan's Factory. "Did we really have to come back here?" Lloyd complained. "You _wanted_ to come in the first place!" Ninten reminded him. "Well, that was before I was KNOCKED OUT!" "Come on, I have a plan. Don't be scared."

Ninten led Lloyd up the many floors of the facility, checking every room for some items. They had missed a few items on their first time up, such as some medicines, bombs, and other miscellaneous products. Not to mention a badge identical to the one Pippi gave Ninten back in Mother's Day. "Hmm," Ninten said as he ripped open the wrapping paper of the present. "Is this another one o' those _Franklin Badge_ things?" "Wait a sec, that's a Franklin Badge?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, some girl gave me one back home. Don't know what the heck it is, but a while ago, it seemed to protect me from that alien that attacked me."

"Then it's not just a novelty! It's… the real thing!"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"That badge is so named because it's said that Benjamin Franklin wore a badge just like that during his lightning experiments. It's thought to protect people from lightning!"

"Then… You can have this one," Ninten said, and pinned it through Lloyd's red t-shirt. "Wow, this is just overwhelming. Aliens, historical artifacts, and strangely violent hippies. I'm in for the ride of my life," Lloyd said, just surprised by what has happened. He didn't know what to expect now.

"Take a look," Ninten said as he led Lloyd through the final door. The ecstatic little geek ran right over to the rocket. "It's so cool!" he exclaimed. "Let's fire it right through the roof!" Ninten stopped him for a moment, "Whoa, Speedy Gonzales, not so fast! I told you I had a plan…" Ninten strode over to the rocket, adjusting its position. "I believe the rock was… this direction! Fire, if you please." "OK! Now I just flip this switch and..." Lloyd said, as he flipped the fire switch. The rocket flew out of the launcher at blinding speed, directly through the roof. Lloyd yelped in fear and watched the rocket fly through the sky in an arc, crashing somewhere outside on the ground. "Now then," Ninten declared, "Let's go see where it landed."


End file.
